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The 72nd anniversary of "a date that will live in infamy" will be celebrated Saturday, recalling the worst naval disaster in American history when the Japanese bombed the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.

Two grandchildren of the late naval commander Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, who was in charge of the Pacific Fleet at the time of the sneak attack, are still battling what they say is the injustice done to their grandfather after that tragic day.

Thomas K. Kimmel, Jr., 70, of Cocoa Beach, Fla., and his cousin Manning Kimmel IV, 65, of Charlotte, N.C., addressed members of the Wilmington Rotary Club on Thursday at the Hotel DuPont seeking help from the members to restore the good name of their grandfather.

The late admiral, along with Lt. General Walter Short, were made the scapegoats of the infamous Dec. 7, 1941 attack. Throughout history, they have been blamed for the fleet's lack of preparedness and for the humiliating defeat the Japanese handed the United States on its own soil.

Ten days after the attack, both commanders were demoted. They went to their graves with their reputations tarnished.

Rear Admiral Kimmel, who died in 1968, tried many times and failed to clear his name and reinstate his rank. Up until his death in 2005, the admiral's son Ned, a DuPont Company attorney in Wilmington, picked up the mantle and continued the fight to posthumously restore his father's record.

"Tommy and I have picked up the mantle to honor our fathers," Manning Kimmel said. "To allow something like this to go on as long as it went on is despicable."

To date, four presidents have turned down requests to have Kimmel's four-star admiral's rank reinstated.

The cousins have been involved in the fight for 14 years and have seen some progress in that time to advance their cause. They managed to get a Senate resolution in 1999 and resolutions from the House in 2000.

But President George W. Bush was resistant to make the required nomination to the Senate Armed Services Committee for approval. Then came 9/11 and all efforts stalled.

In 1999, then-Sen. Joe Biden sponsored a bill in the Senate recommending the posthumous advancement in rank for Admiral Kimmel, saying at the time, "The Kimmel and Short matter is the most tragic injustice in American military history."

The Vice President's Office notified Thomas Kimmel recently that the matter rests with the Department of Defense, he said.

"Have you ever heard the government say, 'We're sorry. We were wrong?' It doesn't happen," Manning Kimmel said. "So, we just keep pushing the boulder up the hill."

Both cousins urged Rotary Club members to pressure Biden to help them finish the job their grandfather started in the next three years.

They appealed to them to call the vice president, write letters, and even stop him on the street when he's in town and push for this advancement while there is a short window of opportunity.

"This sets the stage for the next push to leverage Joe to use his influence before the end of the Obama administration," said Sam Waltz, who arranged to have the cousins speak at the club's luncheon.

If this generation of Kimmels can't get the job done, it will have to fall to the next.

Thomas, who has three children, one a lieutenant in the Navy, said there is still interest among the younger Kimmels.